Boudicca and her daughters
Statue by Thomas Thornycroft (1815-1885) on Westminster Bridge
Image © Heritage Action
 

Bettany Hughes, writing on page 123 of next week’s RadioTimes, says, “One of my favourite moments of the summer spent at the digs took place in the finds’ shed at Calleva. The director of excavations pulled out a first-century AD terracotta roof tile. Left to dry in the sun it had on it the imprints of a Roman hobnailed boot… Apart from immediately short-circuiting you into the fury of a [British] craftsman whose afternoon’s work had been ruined by these vandal travellers [the Romans], the marks seemed to stand for the Romano-British experience.

“It is little surprise, perhaps, that the Romans had a name for us – Britunculii – “pathetic little Brits.”

The Romans in Britain. Sunday, 24 October from 9:30pm on Radio 3.